About Sonlight

Who is Sonlight?

Sonlight is a complete, Christian literature-based homeschool curriculum developed for students from preschool through high school. Our fully-planned curriculum uses a variety of educational resources including literary fiction and nonfiction, biographies, illustrations, and hands-on experiments to deliver an engaging and complete education that extends beyond textbooks and memorization.

A Sonlight education is built around great stories and the best materials available today. Your curriculum comes with thorough lesson plans and notes, so that you can enjoy successful homeschooling. We provide tools that have helped thousands of parents just like you raise children who love to learn, love God and have the academic preparation to do whatever Christ calls them to do.

We're so confident you'll love Sonlight, we back it up with a 100% money-back guarantee unmatched by any other curriculum. If you don't love it—send it back for a complete refund.

Sonlight's History

In 1989, stateside missionaries John and Sarita Holzmann realized they couldn't afford to put three children in a private Christian school. Sarita reluctantly started homeschooling…and found that she loved it.

At that time, there were no complete curriculum programs available; moms had to assemble products piecemeal. Talking to missionary friends, Sarita learned that this problem was far worse overseas. In the days before the internet, it was difficult and time-consuming to locate useful materials without an English-language library nearby. This was such a problem that many missionaries were forced to leave the field of service because their children's education was suffering.

Through the encouragement of a friend, Becky Lewis, Sarita decided that she could help. She would gather, create and compile the best-of-the-best educational materials for those overseas, and here in the States, too.

Sarita's innate gifting for scheduling, her love for great books, and her passion to support those on the field grew Sonlight into a trend-setter in homeschool education and a leader in literature-based learning. Today, we're able to celebrate over 30 years of connecting families with a love for lifelong learning.

Sonlight's Educational Philosophy

Sonlight does not attempt to replicate public education at home. 30 years ago, we pioneered an entirely different approach to learning—literature-based curriculum. This was a new perspective on education, far different from learning with textbooks: start with history as the framework for learning, and build the other subjects around it with rich, engaging literature. It's an approach that produces amazing results.

We're not about fact-collecting or memorization. Your children will learn plenty of facts, but they'll also recognize that there's always more to know, and they'll be excited to dig deeper. And you'll walk this road of delight together.

Our curriculum works. Sonlight scholarship winners earn above-average test scores. They've gone on to become authors, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, missionaries and more, pursuing their dreams and making their mark around the world. And though we applaud exceptional test scores, that's not the one metric that we choose to measure success.

We prefer hearing about reluctant readers who stepped into Sonlight and suddenly found the book that opened up a lifetime of wonder. Or the child who got up early on Saturday to do more schoolwork "because I wanted to." Or the siblings who, when their mother wanted to put off starting school for another week, picketed the house until she "allowed" them to begin.

We love to hear stories like this! And we celebrate every one of those successes. That's what we want for you, too.

Through the years, our product has grown and matured, but at its core it remains the same: a collection of the best-of-the-best educational materials, conveniently assembled together to help you teach your children. We continue to work on our Instructor's Guides — our flagship product — so that you're assured of the value parents have long appreciated: the knowledge that all of the subjects are included, that the books are second-to-none (some of the best stories ever written), and that when you're ready to start school, you'll not only have the schedule to stay on track, but the notes and tips to help you teach every day with confidence.

Sonlight's homeschool curriculum "secret" comes down to this...

We believe most children respond more positively to great literature than they do to textbooks. Books – quality books – can distill the wisdom of an entire life into the span of a few pages. These benefits of great literature have inspired us to build our Christian homeschool curriculum on quality books that present content in a highly engaging fashion. Learn more about Sonlight's educational philosophy.

You can experience the wonder of a Sonlight education, too. We hope you do.

19 Reasons Families Love Sonlight
Sonlight's Top 10 Goals
What does it take to be a Sonlight book?
What is Literature-Based Homeschooling?
Why use a literature-based curriculum?
Join Sonlighters Around the Globe